Blackletter Rotunda: A Comprehensive Guide to a Medieval Hand

Portuguese calligrapher Hugo “Xesta” Moura and Porto-based design studio 0.itemzero have joined forces to produce Blackletter — Rotunda, a compact, focused guide to one of the most historically rich scripts in the Western tradition.

The book’s proposition is straightforward but demanding: take a single calligraphic style and document it completely. Rotunda, the rounded variant of blackletter that flourished in medieval southern Europe, gets the full treatment, from tool selection and basic stroke construction through to advanced letterforms, ligatures, and expressive mark-making across different materials. Every spread is annotated with precision, stripping away mystique to expose the underlying logic of the script.

The manual finds a nice balance between scholarly depth and practical clarity. Xesta brings a background in graffiti and street art, and that sensibility keeps the instruction grounded, less reverent artifact, more active toolkit for anyone serious about the craft.

Blackletter — Rotunda is available directly from 0.itemzero’s website, and you can explore more of Hugo Moura’s lettering and calligraphy work at Xesta Studio.

More lettering inspiration via Behance